Happy 4th of July!

 

I feel like starting off this post by saying "There and back again.  A tale by Kim Slease."  :)  In the last month and a half we've been there and back again.  To Gunnison, that is.  We were able to spend 2 weeks (at least the kids and I were there that long) at my parents' house enjoying all we could squeeze into our visit.  But, wait, before I get ahead of myself. . .

 

 

We ended May by planting our garden again - something we said we wouldn't do again so long as we have littles.  But as the sun came out, I got the itch to plant something so we bought a few plants and had the girls help us put them in the garden bed.  They had a great time helping us dig the holes, put the plants in and water them.  It was all fun and games until about 11:55am.  At that point we should have called it quits. . . the next 20 minutes before lunch were all whining and crying.  They couldn't appreciate pushing through to finish the project.  Oh well, they did pretty well.  We planted broccoli, pumpkin, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, acorn squash and a free tomato plant from the nursery.  Luckily the girls like tomatoes.

 

In early June we loaded the van and headed out to my parents so I would have some help while Brad went to Arizona for work.  The kids and I kept my parents busy and we enjoyed a visit by my Grandpa (Great Ba to the kids) and had a great time being outside.  When Brad returned from his trip, we stayed another week and welcomed the Sullivan family for a few days.  They lived down the street from us in Denver and we have both upped our kiddo count to 3 since we saw them last.  We had a great time with them and Mom & Dad were great sports to host us and our 6 kids under 6.  :)  Who knew you could put 6 car seats in a Sequoia?! 

 

 

Since being home, we've gotten back in the groove of being tired. . . oh wait, I meant life with 3 kids 3 & under.  :)  Actually, William started going 7pm-7am between feedings so that has helped a lot.  If only I could get Addy to stop waking up at 3am to go to the bathroom, I'd be all set!  But that has been another milestone for our family, Addy is completely pull-up free now.  She's sleeping in underwear and has only had 1 middle of the night accident (knock on wood!).  One down, 2 to go. 

 

 

We had my great Aunt Evie for a visit a few weekends ago and we trucked her all over for a couple of days.  She's amazing!  At 91 she is so busy and in such great shape!  Her secret?  She exercises every day and always has.  She was a physical therapist and continues to do all the exercises she used to teach her patients.  If that isn't motivation to exercise, nothing will be!

 

 

We celebrated our 8th anniversary last week and enjoyed a yummy BBQ dinner and a 'porch date' once the kids were in bed.  In case you were wondering about the last post, Brad did it for me as a gift.  It was sort of a mixed bag though because he knows I hate that second song he used.  What a stinker! 

 

We enjoyed our neighborhood 4th of July celebration again this year (all except for the 10 minutes when we lost Elsie in the masses of humanity all wearing red, white and blue!).  We enjoyed the pancake breakfast, parade and carnival before having a BBQ at a neighbors and crashing for a nap!  After our naps we went for round two and had a college student over for dinner, fireworks in our driveway and the big Sugarhouse Fireworks display.  What a great day!  It was strange for Brad to go back to work the next day and both of us were pretty beat by Friday night.  We love our neighborhood.

 

I finally (mostly) finished a project that I've wanted to do since we moved in.  Our front flower bed only had tulips in it and once those were done, we had no color in the front yard.  It has always bugged me and finally we did something about it.  We planted a bunch of little perennials and so hopefully we'll get to enjoy them next year.  I say hopefully because Brad reminded me that now that we have a church we love and we've done our flowerbed it will be time to move.  :)  I hope not but that's how it went in Denver!  I'm not quite done though since a failed experiment with my tulips means I need to get a bunch of bulbs this fall and plant them.    Once I get those in, I'll be done with the front yard.  Next spring we'll be working on the back. . .

 

 

We've had a lot of hot days in Salt Lake but recently we've started having thunderstorms with a lot of rain.  The girls (and Brad) like to go puddle stomping in their puddle shoes (on bath night) while I clean up dinner dishes.  It's pretty funny to watch and I love seeing them pour out their rain boots when they're done. 

 

 

William is now 4 months old and has changed a lot since my last post.  He started rolling over both directions at 3 1/2 months (which is crazy early compared to the girls!) and consequently isn't being swaddled anymore to sleep.  Not long after that transition I stopped feeding him late at night and he's done pretty well with that too.  He occasionally wakes me up in the night because he's hungry but overall he goes 7 to 7.  He wakes up happy, too, which is so pleasant!  He's such a squeaker, and now he's screeching for fun too.  The dude needs to learn 'inside voice' already!  He weighs 14 lbs 10 oz and is almost 26 inches long.  It's funny though, he's got a pin head just like the girls did.  He's 25% for his head size.  :)  They are my kids!

 

 

Elsie is keeping up with Addy in all things physical like running and biking.  She remains my mamma's girl and always wants to be touching me.  It's cute, sometimes.  :)  Her vocabulary is growing so rapidly and she is in that stage of muddling words she uses like saying grasspopper for grasshopper.  I love that. 

 

Addy is so imaginative.  She's creating her own words to go right along with the stories she makes up.  She can play by herself for a long time just pretending.  This morning when she started playing I heard her say to her toys, "Ok, this morning I'm going to teach you to clean the floors."  You can guess what we were doing right before I put her in there.  :)  Yes, I'm trying to teach the girls to clean because I've cancelled our cleaning service and if they don't help me do it, it's just not going to get done!  We'll see how that goes.

 

So, we're doing pretty well.  We're getting in the groove of life with lots of littles and we're learning to have them help us with all the many things involved in keeping the house running.  They are helping us make Brad's shakes, cook, put laundry away and they keep their own toys and things picked up.  It's helping and it is amazing to see how much they really can do. 

 

I've started a women's Bible study where we are studying John Piper's book Battling Unbelief.  Wow.  So good.  Even if I have William with me bouncing on my lap and squealing through most of it.  I'm planning to do MOPS leadership again next year and I'm looking forward to doing Bible Study Fellowship.  I've also managed to start spin classes again since William is cooperating by taking a bottle when I'm gone.  Yeah! 

 

Brad is working on learning the liability side of claims at work and getting back into the groove of exercising.  It's hard to find time when his desperate wife will let him out of the house but he's figuring it out.  :)

 

 

I made a slide show of our last several weeks so you can see how big the kids are getting.  Enjoy!

It's the big one...

Happy 8th Anniversary Baby!  Eight years, three kids, two houses, one dog (I miss Brody) and you and me.  I love you and being married to you.  Your my best friend and biggest cheerleader.  Your smile and laughter brighten my day.  Looking back we've packed a lot into our time together.  I'm looking forward to the next eight and the eight after that.  I've put together a little slideshow for you to remember just how far we've come together (lots of smiles and laughter). 

 

Lord of the Dance starring Master William

 

So, we have always come up with songs that fit the behavior or looks of our kids.  It all started with Addy in her huge cloth diapers when we would sing the Rocky theme song and swing her little fists to the beat.  It was always when she was wearing the green diaper with white lining.  Those ones look just like boxing shorts.  We always laughed that we should make videos of it but we never did. 

 

Tonight I was getting ready to change William's diaper and he was kicking his feet all over the place and making a racket because his cloth cover is in the laundry because yesterday I got distracted emptying the diaper pail while his diaper was off.  Really?  When I finally got back to him he had peed all over and was grinning like crazy.  :)  Anyway, while I've never seen more than clips of Irish dancing or Riverdance, he seems to have it in his blood.  Maybe he's trying to tell us he does want us to call him Master William or Liam.  Anyway, here's his debut.  I think we're a little tired tonight because this was really funny to us.  I hope you enjoy it too. 



 

We did have professional photos taken of our family right after William was born.  Since we've been so busy (and our photographer is about to have her 4th baby) it's taken a bit of time to get them back.  But since I'm in such a goofy mood I'll share this one with you.  Seriously, why did we pay so much money for a picture with William cross-eyed in it?!  :)  Maybe our photographer was in a goofy mood too when she included this one in our CD.  She did get the exact same shot without his eyes crossed and was nice enough to give us that one too. 

William has been busy sleeping, eating, and you know. . . He's also been busy getting out of his swaddle.  We've tried the miracle blanket, we've tried the swaddleme, we've tried both of them together.  It doesn't matter.  If he wants to get his hands out, he gets them out and wakes himself up during his nap by eating his hands.  He won't go back to sleep unless he's re-swaddled.  Good grief!  I'm ready for him to grow out of needing to be swaddled to sleep.  Check out the serious look he has.  He's already got quite the expressive face. 

And just so you know he isn't always so serious, here's his whole body grin.  :) 



 

Ok, off to bed.  Happy Memorial Day!

Spring Update

Since the last time I posted, we've been busy!  I've attached a slide show of pictures but here's the run down. . .

My sister, Jenny, was able to spend a few days with us on her way to California.  She spent Easter with us at our Pastor's house where the girls enjoyed an Easter egg hunt (they got more eggs than the big kids . . . they had a little help!). 

Then, Brad traveled to N. Carolina for a week and since Dad had a business trip scheduled to SLC, Mom came along and stayed to help.  We celebrated Elsie's 2nd birthday while they were in town. 

Elsie is a piece of work!  She's so funny with her faces and silly things she says and does.  Her vocabulary is exploding (to include things like 'no way!' 'Baby Lilliam cying' 'silly me!' among many other things)  We took her to the Dr for her 2 year check up and while she feels like a tank to me, she's still only 24 lbs (20%) and 34" tall (70%).  She is enjoying riding her strider, playing at the park and imagining going anywhere.  She often packs a bag or bucket and tells me she's going to the jump house.  She continues to be a good eater (with avocados and cookies being her favorites) and she loves to read books and sing songs.  Our most recent adventure with her is that she learned to crawl out of her crib.  It was a pretty funny event, actually, because we were all confused as to how Elsie came to be playing in her room when she was supposed to be in play time in her crib.  She was happy to show us how she got out.  It became not so funny when I was working in the garage during her playtime a few days later and came in to check on the girls.  She was sitting on the floor by the door eating a dove chocolate piece she fished out of my bag.  She was wearing her rain boots and had pretty much had a hay day in the house.  She hasn't done it in almost a week so I think she figured out her consequences were going to be consistent and it wasn't worth it.  :)

Addy is a funny kid.  She loves to perform whether that is reading, singing or dancing.  She talks in New King James English when she 'reads' out of her Bible and the conglomeration of stories she puts together are pretty funny.  She loves her baby brother and does a really good job with him.  She's so gentle, plays peek-a-boo with him and shhh-es him when he cries.  Addy's imagination is unbelievable and if she's allowed to, she'll take over the dinnertime conversation to tell us about what she and 'her girls' did that day.  She makes the whole thing up!  She also has an amazing memory.  She refers to things that happened over a year ago that haven't been mentioned since.  She blows us away.

William is now 10 weeks old and is in the middle of Baby Bootcamp.  Actually, that sounds worse that it's turned out to be.  He started sleeping about 5 or so hours in a stretch at night pretty early on and then sort of hovered there, not really stretching out.  He was often waking up after only a 45 minute nap in the day and I just couldn't figure out how to regulate his schedule.  This weekend I cracked and Brad ordered me out of the house (on Mother's Day!) so he could work it out with William.  It worked.  Somehow I got used to jumping up to get William whenever he cried during a nap instead of letting him work it out.  Since then he's gone 8+ hours at night and is on a very regular 3 hour routine during the day.  He does wake up and fuss occasionally but he goes back to sleep pretty easily.  I feel like a whole new person.  I'm even blogging during nap time instead of sleeping!  :) 

At William's 2 mo. check up we actually ended up doing an ER follow up visit - that's a whole other story- too.  He was 23.3" (65%) and 12.2 lbs (75%).  We got him reflux medicine even though he's growing well because it is suspected the reflux is why we ended up in the ER.  One night William turned pale, dazed and floppy and I called 911 while Brad was at work.  He stayed that way for 40 min even though his vitals were normal.  Children's Hospital called it an Acute Life Threatening Event - which meant they had no idea why it happened to an otherwise healthy baby so we stayed overnight and they did some tests.  The conclusion was that it was likely caused by the reflux but that we probably wouldn't see him do that again.  What a scary ordeal!

William is very smiley now (more so since the reflux meds and getting 8+ hours of sleep!) and squalks and kicks his legs a lot.  He really watches people and he has some pretty pensive expressions already.  He does, however, have to take frequent breaks from the high energy his sisters put out and he doesn't last long around both of them at the same time.  :)  I suppose that won't change much over the years.

Our most recent adventure commenced this weekend when we hosted the 2nd Annual MOPS Yard sale fundraiser at our house.  For the last month we've been gathering donations (enough to fill our 3 car garage!) and other moms and I worked all last week getting everything sorted and priced.  Saturday we were up bright and early to run the sale and we make over $1300!  Wow!  We even had  a TON of clothes left over and some other items that we were able to donate.  What a success.  Then, that night we had a babysitter for the first time so Brad and I could see Les Miserables at the Pioneer Theater Company.  It was a very good show and a very late night.  But, William cooperated and never even woke up while Kristen was here.  I'm sure the exhaustion of the week contributed to my break down on Mother's Day that made Brad kick me out of the house so he could get our son in line.  :)

Yeah, so don't ask about Mother's Day.  I'm taking a rain check on the whole thing so I can enjoy it instead of just being an exhausted mess all day. 

Brad has been busy at work learning to manage 2 new liability teams on top of his auto team.  He's been enjoying the warmer weather by taking the girls on lots of walks to the park and getting the yard in better shape after winter.  He sure does a great job running the show when I'm busy with William.  What a great dad! 

I'm done with all my year's activities for the summer so I'm creating a new routine for me and the kids.  We're starting weekly walks at the park with some other MOPS moms followed by playing at the playground and a picnic.  We're getting good exercise and the kids are getting worn out playing outside.  It's been really refreshing but pushing 2 and carrying 1 is a lot of work!  I'm figuring out how to keep everyone cared for during the day when Brad's gone but I have yet to actually cook a real dinner.  I've defrosted and reheated previously prepared meals and dished out left overs but cooking. . . not yet and William is 10 weeks!  Oh well, no one has gone hungry yet. 

Life is busy around here with 3 littles 3 and under.  Maybe now that I don't need a nap every day I can start to get some things done. . . if I could only find my To Do List.  :)

William Dean Slease

Well, William is almost a month old already so we thought it was about time we introduce him to you all.  :)  Life with 3 littles is busy even with an extra adult around (which I've had almost every day since he was born) and yet I still can't seem to get much done.

I also thought I should tell the real story of his birth so that all of you that wagged your finger at me about 'barely making it to the hospital' would know what really happened. 

Friday night, March 1, I had random contractions throughout the night (which I had been having for a while and even went to the hospital the week before on the 'first contraction' like everyone advised me so I wouldn't have a baby at home again).  Anyway, in the morning they continued and about 9:30 I decided to lay down to be able to pay attention to them.  We called my midwife and upon telling her they were 10-20 minutes apart she said we should wait to come in until they were closer together and stronger.  So wait 3 hours we did and then all of a sudden, they went crazy.  It was just like with Elsie's birth.  Brad started freaking out (and so did Mom & Dad) that I get in the car right away.  But you know if you've ever been in transition in labor, you don't really feel like moving much. 

I did make my way into the car and Brad drove like heck to get us to the hospital.  Less than 30 minutes after we pulled up to the hospital, William was born.  My midwife was great.  She met us there, they had a room ready and the nurses just let me do what I needed to do.  They skipped all the procedures and just let me do my thing.  My water broke and out he came.  Crazy.  But, we made it this time.  We were glad too because William was a little blue because I had been breathing too fast and his oxygen levels were off so they were able to pink him up a bit.  And, that first night in the hospital he aspirated some spit up and they had to give him oxygen and suction his stomach because he stopped breathing.  That was so scary and we were glad we were not at home for that.

Since March 2, we've been blessed with help, meals and lots of gifts for our little guy.  (I'm still working on thank you cards!)  We were especially blessed when I came down with Mastitis and Brad had to finish a certification class for work.  A friend watched the girls for me and neighbors brought us dinner.  Brad goes back to work on Wednesday so we'll see if the house remains standing at that point. 

Here's a slide show of the first couple weeks.  Actually, it may only be the first week.  I haven't seen my camera since.  :)

On other news, Elsie is about to turn 2 and she's decided the birth of her baby brother "Yilliam" is a perfect time to start potty training.  Whew!  I don't want to discourage her but seriously?!  She talks a blue streak and is very active.  She loves to ride her strider, play at the park and just run, run, run!  She's in the 'I do it!' phase for sure and she keeps us on our toes with her passion. 

Addy, who is 3 1/2 (and she'll tell you she's not 3!), is a great big, big sister.  She's very helpful with William.  She's getting into playing board games and she is really growing in her independence.  Addy loves to write in her nursing notebook (just like Mommy) and she loves to have one on one play time with anyone who is around.

Brad and I are trying to adjust to being outnumbered.  We're seeing we've entered a season of quick prep meals, not much down time and lots of energy (not ours!).  I'm sure we'll settle into a routine but right now everything feels pretty chaotic.  Three is a LOT more than two!  At least, that's how it feels right now.  But you know, William is such a sweet little blessing and we experienced so many answers to prayer with his birth and since we've been home.  It may be tricky for a while but we are blessed.

Recap :)

I decided to update the blog today and I had to laugh that the last post I did announced that we were going to have a boy.  That in itself probably recaps the last 4 months for you.  :)  Here's a quick run-down and a slide show of what we've been up to. . .

We hosted Thanksgiving for my parents and sister and it turned into quite a family gathering!  We had to move the dining room table to the living room to fit everyone.  It was great fun!

We've had a LOT of snow this winter and I'm happy to say that the snow that's hung around since before Christmas is finally (almost!) gone.  Whew!  Today the sun is shining and giving us hope that spring is coming.

We remodeled our basement to make a bedroom for our little guy and so we spent 2 months covered in dust, sleeping in the guest bed in the family room and unable to find anything.  We also were sick most of that time with ear infections and coughs from lingering colds.  That was a long 2 months but the remodel turned out great and we now have 4 bedrooms instead of 3.  We haven't exactly moved everything back in from the garage yet. . . maybe someday.   

Elsie finally got tubes in her ears in January after going through 6 ear infections since September and it has really helped!  No more crying in the night from ear pain or trips to the Dr twice a week.  Whew!

We spent Christmas in Houston this year with some of Brad's family and it was a blast!  There were so many little cousins for the girls to play with and we got the royal treatment since I was pregnant.  Actually, we've yet to go to TX not pregnant.  Maybe next time.  :)

In preparation for our new addition, Addy got a real big girl bed and we moved her crib/toddler bed to the basement.  She loves her new bed and loves that it's purple!  :)

This pregnancy was especially hard on my back and at the end of January I was finding it really hard to put any weight on my left leg.  Naturally, that made taking care of a 3 yr old and a 1 1/2 year old a bit tricky so at the beginning of February my Mom (and then my Dad) came out to help.  Their plan was to try to stay in town until our little guy was born so we'd have someone to watch the girls when we were in the hospital.  The plan worked but since little man lingered in the womb, they were here waiting, waiting, waiting, longer than they thought they would be.  What a blessing!  I couldn't have finished out the pregnancy with their help.

So, that's all I can remember of the last four months.  Enjoy the pictures!

It's a . . .

So, the story goes a little something like this:

I've been going back and forth on finding out the sex of this baby.  Since the pregnancy was a surprise, I thought maybe knowing the gender would help me adjust and prepare (mentally and physically) for the baby.  I also know that I liked NOT knowing before and so I wasn't sure what to do.  Brad on the other hand continued to stick to not finding out ahead of time.

The night before the ultrasound . . .
Me:  So, you're pinned to the wall and you have to decide right now, for good, whether to find out the sex or not.  What do you do?
Brad:  I wouldn't find out.
Me:  Why?
Brad:  There are so few surprises left in life and I really liked being surprised at the girls' births.
Me:  Ok, then we won't find out.  (I'm planning to be a submissive wife and go with him on this.  Plus, I just want someone else to make the decision for me.  ;)

In the ultrasound. . .
Bethany (the ultrasound tech):  Do you guys want to know the gender of the baby?
Me:  Nope, we want to keep it a surprise.
Bethany:  Ok, I'm about to measure the legs and umbilical cord so if you don't want to know, you'd better look away.

As I looked away, I looked at Brad.  What was he doing?  LOOKING at the TV monitor!!!  I jumped on his case about how he wanted it to be a surprise . . .
Brad:  Well, now I want to know. 
Me:  What do you mean?  You told me yesterday you didn't!
Brad:  Well, now I'm interested.
Me:  NOW you're interested?!
Brad:  Relax, I can't tell what I'm looking at anyway.
Me:  You know what that means, don't you?  If you don't seen anything then it's a girl!
Bethany:  Ok, you guys decide what you want to do and give me the final word.  I'm not saying a thing until then!

I got on his case for a while for changing his mind and when Bethany was going to do some measuring of the feet she asked us what our final decision was. . .
Brad:  We want to know.
Bethany (looking at me!):  What's the final word?
Me:  Oh good grief, go ahead and tell us!  (look at what a flexible person I'm becoming!)
Bethany:  IT'S A BOY!!!
Us:  What?!

So there you have it.  We would never pass as ultrasound technicians because even when Bethany showed us how she could tell it was a boy. . . we were pretty much taking her word for it.  But she said, 100% for sure a BOY!

Crazy.  We're adjusting to the idea of our family changing drastically and Brad's considering what it means to raise a boy into a man.  :)  Here we go. . .